'Sunderland felt fear,' says Birmingham City matchwinner

Birmingham matchwinner Koji Miyoshi believes Sunderland showed ‘fear’ of the atmosphere in the second half at St Andrews.

Sunderland went in at halt-time 1-0 up thanks to Jack Clarke’s 15^th goal of the season, and they looked decent value for it as well.

However, Michael Beale’s side collapsed after the break, and goals from Jordan James and Miyoshi saw the hosts send a sell-out crowd home happy on the day.

And, according to Miyoshi, a big part of that turnaround was the ‘fear’ from Sunderland once the Birmingham fans got involved.

“I am very happy to win in front of these amazing fans,” Miyoshi said. “They made us very confident in the second half. I feel we dominated the game until we conceded the goal, but it’s an easy mistake.

“We controlled the game and in the second half we didn’t lose confidence. These fans improved our confidence.

“That was amazing for us. When we played the game we were feeling like the fans were really behind us. When they shouted at the opponents I think they felt some fear from the fans.”

It’s the second time in a week that Sunderland have been accused of being a soft touch, which is never really a good sign.

Huddersfield winger Sorba Thomas also said the Terriers felt they could ‘bully’ Sunderland at The John Smith’s Stadium on Wednesday.

With Sunderland losing both games and failing to really impress anyone, it makes it a difficult perception to shift as well. 

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